Project Brief

NIST Measurement Science and Engineering Research Grants

MEASUREMENT AND CHARACTERIZATION OF NANOMETER-SCALE MAGNETS FOR POST-CMOS ELECTRONICS

Develop two measurement techniques for nanometer-scale magnets (nanomagnets), which have great potential for improving existing technologies, such as data storage, and may become the basis of faster, smaller electromagnetic devices that may replace conventional components of computer chips.

RECIPIENT: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO

Project duration: 3 Years

Total NIST Funding: $962,440

Nanomagnets have great potential for enhancing existing technologies, such as magnetic storage media and sensors, and for new applications in post-CMOS nanoelectronics. Nanomagnets will also be a fundamental part of magnetoelectronic—spintronic—devices, which are devices that exploit not only the charge of an electron but also its spin. However, before nanomagnets can be used to their full potential, there needs to be a better understanding of magnetization dynamics. This understanding cannot be achieved without improved measurement techniques to study the relevant processes on the necessary temporal and length scales. This project will focus on two such measurement techniques: micro-Brillouin light scattering and microwave-assisted magnetic recording. The research results of this project are expected to lead to improvements in measurement techniques and scientific advances in several nanomagnet-related fields, which have implications for future spintronic devices for storing and processing information that hold promise for post-CMOS information technologies.